The SVI Foundation Board is comprised of committed leaders who are generous with their time, talent and treasure. The Foundation Board members assist SVI in raising funds to meet strategic goals.
Mr Jeremy Gobbo
Chair, SVI Foundation Board
Jeremy was educated at Xavier College and the University of Melbourne. He has been a practising lawyer for more than 40 years, 39 years at the Victorian Bar and 23 years as a QC, now KC.
He enjoyed a diverse practice, specialising in property related matters, particularly town planning. He was a member of The Bar’s Ethics Committee for 5 years and Chairman of the committee that managed Foley’s List, Barristers, and a director, for 9 years.
He is a Fellow of the Victorian Planning and Environmental Law Association. He is a director of International Specialised Skills Institute, a not-for-profit organisation promoting skills by awarding overseas study fellowships.
He left the Bar recently to pursue other activities and is now consulting to three large family businesses in relation to their property and business strategies. He has a particular interest in health and wellness. He is a keen golfer, part-time farmer, Italophile and doting grandfather.
Ms Rhonda Barro
Rhonda Barro is an Executive Director of Barro Group and has over 45 years’ experience in the construction materials industry and executive management in line and functional areas. She has significant expertise and insights in customer and stakeholder relations. Rhonda is a non-executive director of Adbri Ltd and Independent Cement & Lime Pty Ltd and has held numerous leadership roles in community organisations. She is a Director of the Italian Australian Foundation and a Fellow of the Williamson Leadership Program.
Mrs Caroline Daniell
Since studying art, Caroline Daniell has worked in catering, event planning and as a personal assistant. She is the current past President of the National Gallery Victoria Women’s Association and the current Honorary Treasurer of The Alexandra Club.
Ms Bernadette Dennis OAM
Bernadette Dennis is the Director of BD Concepts Pty Ltd, a consultancy company, focusing on providing customer service skills, sales training and marketing concepts for the hospitality, tourism and travel industries. Prior to its establishment in March 2007, Ms Dennis was Vice President, Asia Pacific for Marriott International‘s Global Sales Organisation based at the Marriott Asia Pacific Regional Office in Hong Kong. Ms Dennis worked for Marriott International for 22 years and spent 10 years working in hospitality in the US.
In addition to the SVI Foundation Board, she currently sits on boards with the Marriott Vacation Club Asia Pacific Advisory, St Joseph’s Outreach Services and The Friends of The Johnston Collection. She is also involved with other not-for-profits and industry associations, plus she participates as a mentor in TIME, a mentoring
Professor Thomas WH Kay
Tom Kay is Director of SVI. He holds a Professorial appointment within the Department of Medicine, St Vincent’s Hospital and The University of Melbourne. He also holds the position of Honorary Endocrinologist at St Vincent’s Hospital.
Professor Kay’s research interests are in the area of autoimmunity, particularly of type 1 diabetes.
Mr Tony Reeves
Tony Reeves is an experienced senior executive and director. He served as Chief Financial Officer of several Australian public companies, most recently Treasury Wine Estates Limited, and prior to that Foster’s Group Limited, another global premium beverage company. Prior to Foster’s, he was CFO of OneSteel Limited, a fully integrated global manufacturer and distributor of steel and finished steel products, which was demerged from BHP Billiton. Earlier in his career, he was CFO of Orica Explosives after holding several senior executive roles in strategy, finance, marketing and IT with the ICI Group in the UK, USA, and Australia.
Mr Reeves is a past President of the Group of 100, an organisation of CFOs from Australia’s largest businesses. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Program for Management Development. Mr Reeves is a Fellow of CPA Australia, a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Financial Executives Institute. He is Chair of Hewitt Cattle Australia Pty Ltd and Arcadian Organic and Natural Meat Company Pty Ltd and is a Director of Private Banking Services Ltd. He joined the SVI Board in March 2017.
Mrs Christine Tarascio AM
Co-Vice Chair, SVI Foundation
Christine Tarascio is the matriarch of the Tarascio family, proud owners of Salta Properties and Salta Capital. Salta’s breadth of property development projects and investments across multiple sectors has helped it become one of Australia’s largest privately owned property companies.
Ms Tarascio has been an active fundraiser over many years for various causes, including the Lady Mayoress’s Fund, Queen Elizabeth Centre, PMB (Private Men’s Business, raising funds for prostate cancer research), Pampering Patients, Women at the Alfred, and St Vincent’s Institute. Ms Tarascio is a long-term member of the SVI Foundation Board and was responsible for the set-up and development of the SVI Discovery Fund. She is the founder and chair of the Tarascio Family Foundation.
Ms Yan Li Wang
Yan Li Wang is a Partner of HWL Ebsworth Lawyers, a major Australian legal firm, practising primarily in tax and commercial law. For the past 10 years, she has been an advisory committee member and Australian representative of three private charitable foundations with a global reach in more than 40 countries, working with NGOs both in Australia and overseas on projects in medical research, education, Microfinance, social enterprises and post-disaster reconstruction.
Ms Wang has been a member of the Melbourne Leadership Council of Social Ventures Australia and is a current member of the assessment panel appointed by the City of Melbourne to evaluate applications for social enterprise and micro business grants.
Ms Maree Davenport
Maree was the youngest woman elected to the Parliament of Victoria, aged 28, and served two terms. She was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Housing, Community Services and Aged Care, Member & Deputy Chair of the Joint All-Party Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee, Chair of the Redundant Legislation and Regulation Review SARC Committees and other senior policy roles.
With qualifications in governance and risk (AICD and GIA), Maree has earned a Master of Leadership in gender equality and specialises in workplace Gender Equality Action Plans and Audits. She has long-standing expertise in women’s workplace equity and access. Maree is an AMDRAS-accredited Multidisciplinary and Online Mediator and an appointed ADR practitioner with the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO). Maree is a professional member of the Mediation and Resolution Institutes and professional speaker through Saxton and ICMI.
A Member of Chief Executive Women (CEW), Maree has been an Ambassador for Carlton Football Club since 2013. She has been appointed as Ambassador for the Housing Industry Association (HIA) Building Women and is a member of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), Women in Public Health, Women on Boards, and Victorian Women’s Trust.
Maree is the author of The Australian Guide to Living Well with Endometriosis, which was published by Wiley in March 2025. She is a member of the World Congress on Endometriosis organising committee and Chair of the Patient Liaison committee for the event, which will be held in Sydney in May 2025. She has also been a member of the Australian Government Expert Endometriosis Group and other health and research advisory committees.
For 7 years, Maree Chaired the Victorian Minister for Planning’s Building Advisory Council, comprising the peak bodies and regulators in the building and construction industry, the VBA, VMIA, CAV and Department of Planning.
She was a Member of the Victorian Building Authority Building Appeals Board (BAB), a specialist expert tribunal that makes decisions about matters relating to legislation, regulation, codes, and practitioner registration.
Maree is an Inaugural Foundation member of Monash Children’s Hospital. She was previously President of Wavlink disability service for 7 years, founded Angel Babies Foundation, and supports many organisations which provide a helping hand up to people in need.
Kathryn Fink
Kathryn is the Director of Television at SBS. Kathryn has more than 30 years’ industry experience working in major media markets including Los Angeles, New York, and Hong Kong, and in senior roles overseeing content and operations for television and streaming services including at the Walt Disney Company, Sky Italia, and News Corp.
Prior to returning to Australia and joining SBS in July 2022, Kathryn was General Manager, Media for the Walt Disney Company in Italy. She has also served as Managing Director at Fox Networks Group Italy which included Fox Entertainment, Fox Sports and National Geographic and played a key role in the launch of Sky Italia in 2003. She has an MBA from the University of Melbourne and the University of Chicago, a B.A Honours from the University of Melbourne and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Kathryn comes from a medical family. Her late father, Roy Fink, was a Resident at St Vincent’s from 1962 which was the beginning of a 53-year association with St Vincent’s Hospital. He was the Director of the Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery from 1999 to 2003 and was a founding member of the Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand. He was an examiner for the MBBS for 25 years and pursued research in anorectal pathophysiology and colorectal clinical disorders. He held the position of Senior Lecturer in the University of Melbourne Department of Surgery and Associate Professor of the University of Melbourne, St Vincent’s Clinical School. Kathryn’s brother, Michael Fink, also trained at St Vincent’s and is a hepato-pancreato-biliary and liver transplant surgeon at the Austin Hospital, an Associate Professor of the University of Melbourne and has research interests related to liver transplantation.